Cattle Marketing and Price Discovery

K-State agricultural economists Ted Schroeder, Brian Coffey and Glynn Tonsor discuss their just-released analysis of price discovery in the cattle markets, which was commissioned by the USDA: this in-depth study looked at the impacts of formula marketing agreements as they have evolved over the past two decades, as compared to the cash negotiated cattle trade. They came up with a set of recommendations on improving the flow of price information to cattle producers and throughout the beef production and marketing chain.